4 was written in 1977 as a commission for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who premiered it on 6 October of that year under the baton of Georg Solti.
It was dedicated to Tippett's biographer and friend, Ian Kemp.
Tippett called the work "a birth to death piece".
Tippett quotes the opening of this Symphony in his Piano Sonata No.
Tippett's score calls for a large orchestra consisting of: